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Goodes racially vilified again in AFL

John Salvado

Australian of the Year and two-time Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes has been racially vilified by an opposition fan during an AFL match for the second time in 12 months.

The latest incident occurred during Sydney's 50-point win over Essendon on Friday night.

Bombers chief operating officer Xavier Campbell said his club had terminated the offending fan's membership.

"As a club, we do not accept appalling behaviour of this nature - no matter your race, religion or gender, football is a game of inclusion," Campbell said.

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"It is extremely disappointing incidents of this nature are still occurring."

It was also revealed on Tuesday that another indigenous player, Melbourne utility Neville Jetta, was racially abused during a match against the Western Bulldogs earlier this month.

Victoria Police ejected the man who abused Goodes from Etihad Stadium after being alerted by members of the public.

"If you're going to behave in this manner, we don't want you attending our games," Campbell said in a statement.

"The member in question has expressed his deep remorse for the incident and accepted full responsibility for his actions."

Goodes, 34, was not aware of the incident until after the game.

Goodes was also the subject of a racial slur during a match against Collingwood in May last year, when he was called an "ape" by a 13-year-old fan.

On that occasion, he pointed out the girl who abused him to security officials and she was escorted from the MCG.

"I'm pretty gutted, to be honest," Goodes, one of the most decorated indigenous players in VFL/AFL history, said at the time.

"The win, the first in 13 years, to be up 47 points against Collingwood, to play such a pivotal role just sort of means nothing.

"To come to the boundary line and hear a 13-year-old girl call me an ape, and it's not the first time on a footy field that I've been referred to as a monkey or an ape, it was shattering."

Speaking after the latest incident came to light, Goodes commended Essendon's response.

"While it is disappointing that these incidents still arise, there is a positive to come out of this, and that is the willingness of people in the crowd, regardless of the colours of their scarf and jumper, to draw a line in the sand and say that this is not acceptable," he said.

The man who abused Bulldogs player Jetta during the win over Melbourne on May 12 has still not been identified.

Although the abuse was reported, he was not ejected from the stadium by security personnel.

"We are ashamed of the actions of this person who by his actions has damaged the fabric and the reputation of our club," Western Bulldogs chairman Peter Gordon said in a statement.

"We have no tolerance for ignorant racial abuse and we will continue to make efforts to identify this person and to deal with him under our supporters' code of conduct.

"It has been the club's initiative to make this matter public and to acknowledge the wrongdoing of one of our own supporters.

"When racist abuse rears its ugly head, we will never as a club do what this person has done ... disappear into anonymity. It happened. One of our own supporters did it. We are all diminished as a consequence."

Jetta, 24, said he was disappointed that his family and friends had been subjected to the racial slurs.

AFL football operations manager Mark Evans said that while the two new cases of vilification were extremely disappointing, he was encouraged by the strong actions from other fans.

"It is appalling that some people still think they can go to the football and yell whatever they like over the fence," said Evans.

"The AFL has been very clear that vilification of any kind is not acceptable at football matches and, whenever possible, action will be taken against those responsible."